Todrick Hall’s New Musical ‘Midnight’ Sparks Massive Online Backlash For Its Problematic Plot

A new off-Broadway musical from multi-hyphenate entertainer Todrick Hall, premiering Thursday (Oct. 15), is drawing attention for all the wrong reasons, including a problematic plot, which involves a slave falling in love with a white man.

In “Midnight,” Hall stars as Rail, a young Black slave who catches the eye of another slave named Lily Rose. A snippet of “Pretty Eyes,” a song from the show in which Lily Rose tries to swoon Rail, received positive reviews online and built up hype for the production — that is, until the full context came to light. Although Rail doesn’t have strong feelings for Lily Rose, he eventually gives in, marries her and impregnates her. Things take an unexpected turn when Rail has an affair with Richard, a white man who is the fiancé of Rail’s owner.

Hall has defended his show online, praising its table-turning second act where Black people are slave owners and white people are slaves. But online, Black theatergoers are bashing its storyline. They noted how the plot perpetuated stereotypes, such as Rail being taught how to swim, read and write, and how white people can perform vocal riffs and runs as slaves.

An entertainment lawyer and content creator who was invited to see the show during its previews said that while the performers had incredible talent, the material they performed was ultimately “three hours of Black trauma.” In a TikTok, she mentioned that as she walked into the Daryl Roth Theatre, she was triggered by seeing the characters’ costumes hung from ropes. Then, within the first few minutes of the show starting, she said a slave was killed “in cold blood.”

“It irritates me because we will see people cry in a theater over a Black person being killed, but then they’re not going to go talk to their family members about who to vote for,” she said. “That doesn’t sit right with me.”

Hall responded in her comment section, saying he knew his musical would be “controversial and divisive,” but argued that it was a “complete assumption” that the show couldn’t start conversations or change how people vote. “We can never say how art and music is going to effect/inspire someone,” he wrote.

In another video, a TikToker mouthed “Todrick, what is wrong with you?” after realizing “Pretty Eyes” was actually from a “SL@VE PLAY.”

Again, Hall jumped into the comments to defend his work. “Nothing is wrong with me,” he wrote. “I’m out here creating art that causes conversation and selling out shows. One of the only black composers creating work in nyc, putting money in the pockets of black actors who are enjoying the work and storytelling that they are doing.”

Although his art is causing plenty of conversation, some Black TikTokers, including @wyettsworld, argue that any conversation about slavery that portrays slaves and slave masters getting along is wrong.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with that man,” another pop culture commentator said. “… I’m tired of these types of stories. This is not accurate to history.”

This isn’t Hall’s first time facing scrutiny and legal woes. The YouTuber was criticized for creating parodies and sketches that have made caricatures of Black women and LGBTQ+ people. He settled a lawsuit in 2023 from an ex-assistant who accused him of harassment and not paying him his full wages, and he was ordered to pay over $100,000 in a default judgment in 2022 after he didn’t respond to a lawsuit accusing him of unpaid rent.